Thursday

The Celtics coach and rookie are among three finalists in their categories for awards that will be presented in California on June 25.

WALTHAM – The NBA is holding a season-ending get-together in the form of an awards night, and Jayson Tatum and Brad Stevens are invited.

Tatum is one of three finalists for the rookie of the year award while Stevens joins two others in the running for the coach of the year award.

The NBA will reveal the winners on June 25 with TNT televising from Santa Monica, Calif., after the championship is decided and the draft is held.

Tatum is going against the front-runner, Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers, and Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz while Stevens’ competition is Dwane Casey, who was recently fired by the Toronto Raptors, and Quin Snyder of the Utah Jazz.

One year after his freshman season at Duke, Tatum started a team-high 80 games for the Celtics and averaged 13.9 points on 48 percent shooting, hitting 43 percent from 3-point range.

He has helped the Celtics reached the Eastern Conference finals where they hold a 2-0 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers, averaging a team-best 18.1 points in 14 postseason games.

Tatum has showed poised from the start of the season last October right through the playoffs.

“Wait till you see him in two years,’’ said Al Horford during the regular season. “He’s way ahead of the game. We weren’t expecting this from him.’’

Simmons, who missed the 2016-17 season with an injury, averaged 18.8 points, 8.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds while Mitchell was a surprise, averaging 20.5 points after being drafted No. 13 last June.

Casey led the Raptors to the best record in the Eastern Conference while Snyder won 48 games with the Jazz, who lost Gordon Hayward to the Celtics in free agency.

His players have high praise for the job Stevens has done with the undermanned Celtics.

“He’s a great coach, and he’s a crafty coach,’’ said Marcus Smart following practice Thursday afternoon. “Some of the plays he draws up, we kind of look at them like, I don't really know if this is going to work or not. And when you do it, you're like, you know what, sorry I ever doubted you.

“It’s one of those things. When you have a coach like that, it’s fun to play for, and you want to go out there and give it everything you have.’’

Said Jaylen Brown: “His preparation level is very high every game. You can see his focus level, he knows the game. His staff knows the game.’’

Goon talk: Coach Tyronn Lue said after Game 2 that the Celtics were “gooning the game up’’ and that the Cavaliers were going to have to match the physical nature.

Asked after practice what he meant by that, Lue said, “Physicality. Nothing bad. I like it. But physicality, hard fouls, into our body, into our airspace, and they’re just playing tough. It’s not a bad thing to goon it up. Like taking hard fouls and being physical, they’re playing playoff basketball. That’s all I meant by it, nothing bad.’’

James practices: LeBron James, who briefly went to the locker room during Game 2 Tuesday night after colliding with Tatum, went through the Cavaliers practice in Ohio.

“He said he’s okay,’’ Lue told reporters. “He did everything.’’

James was hurt while driving the baseline when he ran into the shoulder of Tatum with his head and appeared to injure his neck.

Larkin on the court: Backup point guard Shane Larkin, who was hurt in Game 4 against the Philadelphia 76ers, was on the court during part of practice, but he is not close to returning.

Larkin sprained his shoulder when he ran into Joel Embiid and has missed the past three games.

“He’s doing well,’’ said Stevens. “He ran up and down the court a couple of times today. But any time that he would catch a ball or have to swing it to the next person, even in an offensive drill, it was uncomfortable. So he just stopped.

“But he is progressing well. What that means, he’s not anywhere close to playing.’’

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